Explore the mysterious and sinister Dark Arts with this collectible tiny art book featuring facts and art from the Harry Potter films.
Go behind-the-scenes of the beloved Harry Potter films and learn all about the Dark Arts of the Wizarding World. From basic curses and jinxes to Dark creatures like the Basilisk to the Dark Lord himself, this fascinating little book is filled with fun facts and unique insights on the darker side of the Harry Potter films, illustrated by concept art and unit photography from the set!
One of a new line of collectible pocket-size art books on the Harry Potter films, this book on the Dark Arts features exciting artwork and behind-the-scenes facts in a fun, readable miniature size. Fans can choose their favorites or collect them all!
1.) Curses and Cursed Objects 2.) The Dark Lord 3.) Voldemort's Horcruxes 4.) The Death Eaters 5.) Dark Creatures 6.) Dark Places
Even though I appreciated the concept of collecting all dark, sinister items and spells into a single consolidated volume, the execution is organizationally unsound and leaves a lot to be desired.
For one, it shares too much overlap with the other tiny books in the series, particularly Slytherin and Hogwarts. I didn't need to hear about the Death Eaters again, one by one, actor by actor, nor did Voldemort deserve his own section because the Dark Arts and Horcruxes certainly preceded Tom Riddle's existence. I also don't care about who played each of them in the movies, or how they painted on Voldemort's nostrils for the fifth time. The Dark Creatures (Basilisk, Grindylow, Inferi, etc.) section wasn't bad, but Dark Places certainly didn't belong in a book about magic spells and artifacts.
Secondly, most of the important spells received no explanation. If I'm reading a spellbook about the Dark Arts, I expect at least cursory definitions about what the basic spells do, but this book simply namedrops the Unforgivable Curses, without even explaining what the Imperius Curse, Cruciatus Curse, and Avada Kedavra do! Besides neglecting these key spells, the following pages detail Sectumsempra and Fiendfyre not so much in their quality or effect, but rather who used them in the movie or story. First, tell us the basics of their casting, i.e. what makes them dark! The whole book could have been complete as a comprehensive dictionary of dark spells, like the ones taught in Dark Arts classes at Hogwarts or detailed in a textbook.Instead, a few dark spells are grouped with cursed objects, when I would expect the objects and Horcruxes to deserve their own section, complete with diagrams of the objects coming to life.
Overall, nice concept with colorful artwork, but ultimately too many words wasted on a few dark wizards we already knew from the other books, and too little spent detailing how the magic works, as well as the spells and history we might not know from the glimpses of dark magic we get from the books.
I liked this TINY (only about an inch by two inches big) book well enough but was a bit disappointed. I suppose I expected it to be more like a textbook a Hogwarts student might have. I also expected it to be bigger than it is. Instead, this book is mostly pictures from the films with some concept art and very simplistic writing. An example of the writing is "Lord Voldemort is played by Ralph Fiennes." Although this book is fine, I wasn't impressed and wouldn't recommend it even to a super fan.
A truly tiny book, but filled with production insights (carefully distinguished from details derived from the books), concept art, and of course facts about the Dark Arts and those things, persons, and spells associated with them, including You-Know-Who.